St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-08

vi the uilcSt newspaper putting Ill inc
world, with this little sheet of paper in
hand and look out over the great
metropolis which spreads out in full
view before us, we realize more sensibly
than ever before what one generation
hath wrought
And if SO great things have been done
in the budding of our prosperity, who
can predict what the full leaf will be?
THE WORKINGMAN'SW WIFE.
In his address before the Boston La
Dor Lyccum last week Edward Atkinson,
with his regular genuine Yankee blunt
ness, presented fact to the consider
alton of the workingmen which some of
them, at least, had overlooked. He re-
minded them that while they were de-
handing a limit of eight hours for days
work for themselves they were eXacting
fourteen hours work of their wives. Ii
eight hours is a days work for man it
ought to be days work for woman
also. There is an old adage that wo-
mans work is never done, and there is
great deal of truth about it. From the
time she rises in the morning until she
lies down at night the housewives hand
always finds something to do. Her life
is a continuous round of labor; not ONLY
labor but d-udgery. Together with
cooking and house cleaning, with mend
ing and stitching, with nursing the
children and thoughtful attention
for husband. the laborer's wife
has no idle moments. The only
rest for her is that long
sleep which comes when the grave opens
to receive her worn out body. In these
days of labor reform when the condi-
tons of the laboring man are so much
improved, when the hours of his labor
are shortened, when his wages are being
increased, when he has more time to de
vote to the care and intellectual cultiva-
ton of his children, let him not forget
that his wife is entitled to a part of the
benefits which he is securing for him.
self. For if there is any person in the
world who needs more rest and more
spare time it is the workingman's wife.
SURPRISING POVERTY.
HENRY GEORGE and DR.. MCGLyNN
rather erratic and impracticable in their
social ideas. They have organized
society for the suppression OF poverty,
and whatever may be thought of the
methods OF the new organization.
everybody will concede that it has u
noble purpose. Oh, what blssful
state of affairs it would be in this world
of ours if there was no poverty and we
would never have to suffer from the APP
prehension that want might some day
oyeGtake Us and our families. What a
relief it would be to the continuous
strain of our every day labor as we
bend every vital force to the work of
keeping the wolf away from our doors.
Yes, all of us can shake hands with Mr..
GEORGE and DR.. MCGLYSN on this
movement, and bid them a God speed.
Still, for the life OF us we can't see how
the organization is to be made a success.
We can readily see how anti-poverty So
cieties may accomplish great good il
their immediate localities by doing just
as other charitable organizations are
doing, relieving the necessities of the
poor and alternating the suffering of the
poverty stricken. But we confess that
it looks to us to be chimerical scheme
to organize for the purpose of roofing
out poverty from the earth until the
primal curse has been removed. AS
long as men are compelled to earn their
bread by the sweat of their brow there
must be poverty in the world.
HENRY GEORGES idea is that pov-
erty is not a necessary evil, to be en-
dured or mitigated by benevolent pro-
ceSses, but social crime to be abol-
ished. Dr.. McGLYNN proclaims that it
is the purpose of the new society to
abolish the horrid crime of poverty,
which is the injustice of man in viola
ton of the laws of God" And he fur
thermore declares that the solution
of moral questions must begin
by repeating the law that condemns men
to poverty. These are brave words. it
is true. Yet, so far as we can see, they
are only the expression of fine spun
theory, which cannot be put into prac-
tice amid the gross materialistic ideas of
this age. The theory is popular one,
and the noted social reformerS will find
popular sentiment overwhelming OIL
their side. Everybody wants to see
poverty abolished from the earth. 1t
doesn't make any practical difference to
the masses whether poverty is crime
Or misfortune. They want the world
to be rid of it. And yet, with all our
intense desire to be relieved of the af-
Fiction, there are precious few of us
who have faith in the ability of societies
to give the world that relief. Nor have
we confidence in the ability of either So
cial or economic laws to rid us of the
curse. There. must be an entire
regeneration of human nature be-
fore poverty can be abolished.
If Mr.. GEORGE and DR.. McGIYNN
could succeed in accomplishing he
grand results they aim at and all in
capabilities could removed and every
man given an equal chance viii. his fell
low men it would not be six months
until there would be just as much pow
erty in the world as there is to-day.
Poverty is a part of human nature and
cannot be repealed until human nature
is regenerated.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES.
''What is Canada's destiny to be?"
asks the Montreal Star. If our Mon
treal contemporary was careful OBJ